Sport, Exercise And Health

Healthy Life is Australia’s home of ‘feel good’. Eat small meals. Choose several small meals over huge meals. This evens out your energy distribution. It’s also better for your stomach because it doesn’t over-stretch from digesting a huge volume of food at one go, which can lead to a hiatus hernia In general, eat when you feel hungry, and stop when you’re full (see tip #24). You don’t need to wait until official meal times before you start eating. Listen to your body and what it tells you.

8 Engage in some resistance exercise Resistance exercise helps to maintain muscle mass and strengthens the body. This has particular relevance as we age, as it reduces the risk of disability and falls. Many highly useful exercises can be done at home, such as press-ups, sit-ups and squats. Invest in a Dyna-Band or dumbbells to extend your home routine to other exercises, too.

Neighbourhood houses often run groups that can help you with healthy living including Tai Chi, meditation, Yoga, dance or walking groups. Some also have groups such as weight loss programs, Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous and Gamblers Anonymous. People with asthma should keep their flu shots up to date. Ask your doctor which vaccinations are recommended for your age group and health conditions.

The HLY is a health expectancy indicator that combines information on mortality and morbidity and partitions the total years lived at any age into those spent in different ‘health’ states, however ‘health’ is defined. This indicator was preferred to other possible health expectancy indicators such as Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) or Health Adjusted Life Expectancies (HALE).

Stick with healthy food from each food group. This means staying away from food high in saturated fats, sodium and added sugars. Eat more whole grains, lean proteins such as chicken or legumes and beans, low-fat or non-fat dairy, and increase your fruits and vegetables. Have healthy snacks. If you’re hungry at work, eat healthy snacks like fruits, vegetable juices, and yogurts. These are nutritional and don’t give you that sugar rush. Have them readily available so that you can get a munch and stop when you have your fill. Stay away from cookies and candy bars.